Tag: The Present

New York is rife with great theater at the moment. The lights rarely dim on the Great White Way but at present they’re all but blinding. Whether you like light entertainments, musicals or full on drama it’s all right here for you.

On Sunday I scour the New York Times to see what’s great, what’s coming and what’s about to close. Proximity is the magical word that describes NYC; whatever floats your boat is just down the street and around the corner. Here are some great plays I intend to run and catch: Hello Dolly is just about to open this month starring Bette Midler. I don’t know about you but this appears to be one of those mega-moments that people will talk about for years and years to come and I plan to know first hand what all the noise is about.Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd is playing downtown in a fabulously spare and dramatic production. I musical with ‘bite’ excites me and Sondheim is a master at this genre. Sunset Boulevard with Glenn Close is back again 22 years after the original Broadway production. This is an amazing production (I saw it a night before the opening) and one that’s likely to award Glenn Close with yet another Tony award for the same show!

Sally Field is starring in a new production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. This searing play set in Depression era St. Louis has been mounted again and again but this time it packs a special punch. Stripping down these stories to their brutal essence makes this production particularly affecting. I’m dying to see it and can’t wait to see a new interpretation of this dramatic classic.

Sally Field in The Glass Menagerie

The same can be said for The Present starring Cate Blanchett. This tense drama is an opportunity to see one of the world’s best actors up close and very personal. Lastly, John Guare’s hit play Six Degrees of Separation returns with a new cast led by Allison Janney. This play that defined the fraught relationships between the liberal-minded haves and an upstart wannabe is as pertinent now as when it originally played 30 years ago.

Cate Blanchett in The Present

Almost all of these productions are available for half price if you visit the TKT locations at Time Square, South Street Seaport and in Brooklyn. Any given evening or matinees on Wednesday and Sunday offer you a wonderful opportunity to see some of the very best Broadway has on offer. I’ll be seeing you there!